A special 6 year old!

Maren:
This last week we celebrated my 6th birthday!  It was absolutely fantastic!  The week was filled with fun events that made me feel very special.  We had my party a few days early since my actual birthday was on a Friday.  After all the fun we had last year, I decided that I definitely needed to have a water slide again.  So, mommy planned and threw a great Luau party.  Our backyard was decorated like an Island Paradise!  We had yummy food and an awesome cake that looked like a beach scene.  Unfortunately my daddy got sent to a really big fire over on the coast range the morning of my party so he could not be there, but we still had a great celebration.  Lots of people showed up and we played on the slide for hours!  The following day, the people didn't come to pick up the slide until really late so we played on it all morning/afternoon too.  We even watched the Solar eclipse from it.
The actual day of my birthday, daddy still wasn't back home yet but mommy and Nonna still made my day really special.  We started off having a tea party and filled our tummy's with some yummy goodies.  Then we headed to the mall where I got my ears pierced.  Luckily, there were two girls there and they were able to do both ears at the same time.  After it was all done, my lip quivered a little bit and I looked at my mommy and said "Mommy, I think I need to cry".  Even though she told me I could, I never did.  I toughed it out and came out of it with some beautiful shiny pink earrings.
I got a lot of wonderful gifts for my birthday from all of my friends and family.  I'm so loved! 

A window in my mouth!

Maren:
It is August, and we have already had a great summer.  One more month left and I will be starting school!  I am really excited to be a kindergartner!  But... before that happens we have a lot left to do!  This month is jam packed with lots of fun too.
I have been taking riding lessons for just under a year now and Miss Sonja invited me to attend her annual horse camp.  It was six days long and all of the girls camped out at Sonja and Art's house.  My mommy and daddy felt like that was a bit much for me to handle so I went three of the days so I could have a rest day in between.  I got a lot of exposure to the horses, some good riding time, and made some new friends.  The last night of camp mommy brought a tent and camped out on the lawn so I could stay over with the girls.
The biggest event of the last few weeks for me.... I finally lost a tooth!  A few weeks ago I turned to mommy and said, "This tooth really hurts when I eat."  Mommy did a check and found a wiggly little incisor.  After a few weeks of waiting, I came to her and said... "Mommy, will you pull my tooth?"  I was super brave and didn't even cry when she did it!  She wrapped a bit of dental floss around the tooth, pulled on the ends, and out it popped!  Now I have a little window in my mouth! 

Maddox:
Wow!  Summer has been lots of fun so far.  Daddy has been busy building us a new swing set/play structure to go along with the playhouse he is going to build for us.  It's all finished now and its pretty amazing!  It has two really great swings and a fun disc swing that spins round and round.  Mommy also had a really great idea for a climbing wall on one side so daddy found some old tires and made it happen.  I love to climb on it!